


the summer of the 2008 olympics

by anakatieskywalker



Series: Olympics! AU [3]
Category: Batgirl (Comics), Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Olympics, Beijing 2008 Summer Olympics, Gen, Gymnast Dick Grayson, Gymnast Stephanie Brown, Summer Olympics, Women's Artistic Gymnastics, no editing we die like robins, no one asked for this but i will deliver anyway
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-23
Updated: 2020-07-23
Packaged: 2021-03-04 22:07:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 878
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25473625
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anakatieskywalker/pseuds/anakatieskywalker
Summary: Steph's eight years old and gets another reminder of her ultimate life goal, and Bruce hires former National Team Gymnast Selina Kyle as a coach. So what if all Steph wants to do is go to gymnastics? She's got a goal to reach.AKA Steph watches the 2008 Olympics and adds to her list of idols, Bruce is probably the only adult that takes her dreams seriously.
Relationships: Stephanie Brown & Bruce Wayne, Stephanie Brown & Dick Grayson
Series: Olympics! AU [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1841788
Comments: 3
Kudos: 53





	the summer of the 2008 olympics

The next Summer Olympics took place when Steph was eight years old. It was summertime, and Crystal was working more than ever to pay off the debts that Stephanie’s father had racked up. Which meant that Steph spent most of her time at the Greater Gotham Sports Complex.

She wasn’t always training, but she and Dick did spend a lot of their time trying out new flips and combinations, much to the entertainment of Barbara and Jason.

And then, the Olympics started. Every day, they’d be wiping down mats and folding towels when Bruce would roll the TV stand out into the floor, and everyone who was still at the gym would crowd around and watch whatever Olympic contest was on. 

As always, gymnastics was Steph’s favorite. She and Dick would sit with rapt attention during the Male and Female competitions, making comments about what was wrong with form or what flips they thought they could complete. 

Bruce would laugh and ruffle their hair, joking that they should be commentators themselves. 

Shawn Johnson and Nastia Liukin dominated the field for women’s artistic gymnastics, and Dick nudged Steph, pointed to Shawn and said, “You’re built like her.”

Steph was in awe of how explosive the older girl’s flips were, and how she held her head high when receiving silver after silver. The flawlessness of the beam routine was just the icing on top.

As the commentators raved about ‘The Beam Queen’ being only sixteen years old, Steph turned and looked at Bruce, who was sitting a little ways back. 

“We’ve got work to do.”

Some of the other gym members laughed, but Bruce’s face stayed serious as he examined her expression. Dick was in the background, trying his hardest not to grin like a loon.

After a moment, it appeared Bruce had assessed her want to be genuine. “Are you sure you want to do this?”

“More than anything.”

He raised an eyebrow, “It’s going to be a lot of work.”

“I’m not afraid,” Steph squared her shoulders like she was preparing to run at the vault at full speed.

Finally, a spark lit in Bruce’s eyes and he smirked, “Okay. We can make that happen.”

Dick shook her shoulders lightly, “Now we’re both training for the Olympics, sunshine!”

Steph couldn’t have been more excited.

A few months later, Bruce hired a new gymnastics coach. Selina Kyle, former National Team member, specialized in Women’s Artistic Gymnastics. They'd known each other since they were kids, both going through competition circuits and National Camps. There was no one else he’d trust to help make Steph’s dreams come true, and he knew Selina would do everything she could to help the girl. After all, she’d been in Steph’s shoes before. 

Unlike Bruce, Selina had come from the wrong side of the tracks, she had to put in twice the work to compete, and there was always something for her to prove. He knew Steph needed someone like Selina in her corner, and splitting Stephanie’s training between the two of them made it easier for them to attend to all of their athletes and for Bruce to run the financial side of his sports complex, only handing it off to Alfred and Lucius Fox when competition season got intense. 

It of course led to a conversation between Bruce and Crystal about Steph’s training habits and how much time she was spending at the gym. She was still marked down as a scholarship athlete, and they didn’t have the money to pay for all the extra equipment, training time, and competition leos.

Steph had been led away from the conversation by Dick and Selina, but whatever Bruce said clearly had eased Crystal’s worries about Steph overworking herself, and her concerns about money.

Soon Steph got a permanent locker in the gym, and she lined it with pictures of Shawn Johnson, Nastia Liukin, Carly Patterson, and Mary Lou Retton. 

She got more leotards, and spent almost every afternoon at the gym when she got out of school. If she wasn’t flipping on the mats, she was sitting in the corner as Dick walked her through math equations and Barbara helped her between training other kids in judo. 

Time went by, and she started to add on Saturday morning training, even when Crystal had the day off.

To say Crystal was slightly concerned would be an understatement, the woman offered for them to skip practice and go to the mall, do anything, but Steph insisted. She had a goal in mind, and she wouldn’t be stopped. 

Crystal would never tell Steph this herself, but the girl had seen the stack of envelopes on the counter. She knew that every time her dad came home from upstate, he had a tendency to bleed her mom dry. She hated it, hated how her dad didn’t care how much he stressed out her mom, or that some bills went overdue because of it.

So she did the only thing she could do, she trained, because she wasn’t going to be like her dad, and she refused to risk losing her scholarship to Bruce’s gym. 

She was going to go to the Olympics, and she was going to make her mom proud. 

Everyone else could just sit back and watch.

**Author's Note:**

> another time skip because i don't remember much about being a small child. I'm filling in the pieces before we get to Steph's big Olympic Debut.
> 
> Stay safe and take care of each other, and don't forget to leave a comment and let me know what you think!!


End file.
